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Maple Leafs: Looking at what struggling club needs to change

Toronto is in bad shape, setting up Saturday’s game against Chicago as arguably it’s most significant game of the season to date.

The Leafs are struggling, and there is an argument to be made the team should lean on one goalie to carry them through as opposed to the sharing duties. Jonathan Bernier was obtained in a trade with the Kings to essentialy be Toronto's No. 1 goalie. (Frank Gunn / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

A day after one of their worst games of the season, the Maple Leafs gathered around the video screen and tried to figure out why a supposed playoff team is playing like a bottom feeder.

The Leafs stayed off the ice Friday and began what needs to be a very quick rebound from the performance they registered Thursday in a 6-3 loss to St. Louis.

There were no excuses given, and at this point of the season the Leafs shouldn’t be making any. Fatigue was mentioned, and the club was playing in the second game in a back-to-back games series, but the mention was intended as a target for improvement instead of an excuse.

Essentially, Toronto is in bad shape, setting up Saturday’s game against Chicago as arguably it’s most significant game of the season to date.

The club needs a win, and though there is no such thing as a “must-win” game at this point of the season, a win would help dispel some of the problems that have worked into the club’s game.

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Beyond that, the Leafs are looking at the long-term, and not only hitting the reset button, but moving away from performances like the one they gave in St. Louis.

Here are three things that would help:

Playing fatigued

Forward Joffrey Lupul summed it up best when he said good teams know how to win when they are not at 100 per cent energy levels.

“It’s the travel, but we can’t use that as an excuse,” Lupul said in reference to the St. Louis effort. “There are ways to win and not be at 100 per cent, teams do it all the time, so there are no excuses there.”

Lupul and other players agreed the way to win at less-than-peak energy levels “starts with defence first.” That’s the type of game the Leafs played against the Kings the night before they played St. Louis, and that game was generally regarded as their most complete performance of the season.

Fatigue brings into question the club’s overall model for conditioning its athletes, and whether the athletes are taking it seriously enough.

Mats Sundin frequently questioned that very detail after the 2004-05 lockout; the former captain grew increasingly concerned with his club’s performances, especially into January and February, when the league reaches its halfway point and teams begin ratcheting up their intensity.

Lupul — as well as Dion Phaneuf and David Clarkson — indicated a team can focus on its own zone first in times of “fatigue” and come out a winner. The perfect example was Los Angeles, which beat the Leafs 3-1 Wednesday. The Kings were on the second game of a back-to-back series, and some of their players ranked the team’s performance against the Leafs as one of its worst of the season.

Players buy into the coach’s system, they take pride in it, and that sees forwards back in their own zone, covering off their defensive assignments.

Toronto has played that style of game, more notably in October. It’s time to revive it, especially against top-shelf teams like the ones that are on the schedule at the moment.

Lean on one goalie

Is it time? Is it time to let either Jonathan Bernier or James Reimer to take on a defacto No. 1 role and see how the team responds?

Bernier was brought in to be a No. 1, and the only reason there is a two-goalie system with the Leafs is Reimer and his tremendous response to the challenge Bernier presented.

If Bernier is given the reins, it would be no slight against Reimer, and there’s an intriguing possibility the Leafs would be a better team with a regular starter.

For a goalie, and any player, consistency breeds confidence, and confidence is lacking on the Leafs at the moment.

Trade for star defenceman

Easier said than done, but the club would be better with a true all-star level defender in the mix.

Evidence of that can be seen with the top clubs the Leafs have faced lately: St. Louis, for instance, ices Jay Bouwmeester, Kevin Shattenkirk and Alex Pieterangelo — three all-stars. In fact, it’s almost a necessity in the recipe for success (St. Louis, again, arguably does not have as potent a top-six forward corps as the Leafs do).

Toronto is also showing statistical signs of a breakdown within its own defensive corps and overall team performance on defence.

The club has only two games where it has limited the opposition to 25 shots or less; the power play minus penalty kill time differentials are negative and among the league’s worst. In addition, the bulk of the penalty kill time on the team goes to defenceman Phaneuf and Carl Gunnarsson.

Basically, the Leafs need help if they are to play better defence and sustain themselves as a playoff worthy club. They already have all the offence they’ll need.

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